


one life to the next

by ricepaperboi



Category: Altered Carbon (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 12:04:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17161676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ricepaperboi/pseuds/ricepaperboi
Summary: post finale short





	one life to the next

Her voice is like a whisper, an echo ringing around in the bone confines of his skull. The intimate familiarity of Quell’s voice makes heartbeats stutter. He can feel her lips brushing against his ear. Quiet words sound above the near deafening noise of the city. Quell whispers his name and it feels like his body is made of air, as if the muscle and sinew are suddenly made of spider’s silk. 

Kovacs turns his head with the hope and expectation of catching even just a glimpse of her. And she is there, a clear and vivid vision against the grey background of the dingy streets. A small smile pulls at the corners of her mouth but does not reach her eyes. 

“You’re out there, aren’t you?” Kovacs asks. “You have to be.”

Her smile widens slightly even as sadness is etched into the lines of her face. “Leave me, Tak. You’ve got a whole other life to lead, a hundred if you wanted. The world we knew is dead. Make yourself new in this one.”

He shakes his head. Tears cling to lashes. “Eternity wouldn’t mean anything without you in it, and the world can go to shit for all I care. If you’re out there than I’m not...I can't leave you to rot.”

“I wouldn’t be the same.”

“I’d know you in a thousand different sleeves, on a thousand different worlds.” He moves closer, footsteps slow and careful as if afraid she would disappear with one wrong move. And then they are no more than a few inches apart, yet separated by tech and time. “You showed us how to survive. Do more, do better. Live. Live for me, for them. Live for yourself.”

“What would we be in this new world?”

Fingers twitch. Palms itch and muscles clench. Every fiber of his being is screaming for him to reach out and touch her. Brain synapses fire, stimulating his stack. Her remembers the feel of her skin, her lips. And the longer he sustains this vision of her, the more his skin feels like ash and dust without her touch.

“We would be together. Is that so bad?” The rough timbers of his voice waver.

“It is,” her voice cracks, “everything.” 

He nods once. Tears spilling over to run down his cheek. “I’ll find you.”

“I’ll be waiting.”


End file.
